People are much more accepting of tattooing. Although, their expectations are sometimes unrealistic. They see a huge back piece done on a show in 20 minutes and don’t realize the time commitment involved can go into weeks or months.

Not monotonous, but sometimes as an artist in the service industry we can become jaded to what getting a new tattoo feels like. That tribal tattoo that we may not like for ourselves seems like the best thing ever to a new client who hasn’t seen it a hundred times. We have to remember to not let our own jaded sensibilities interfere with the excitement of a new client.

A girl had just turned 18 and she wanted a tattoo on her calf of a guy going down on a girl with the inscription underneath of “Eat it like its peanuts”. I asked her to wait and think about it for a couple of weeks and never saw her again

Tattoos that won’t look good. I’ll tell a client if a tattoo design they bring in won’t work and if they persist, sometimes its worth turning them down to make sure they don’t get a bad tattoo. I also say no to the hands and neck unless you’re already covered in tattoos.